Metro Detroiter: Brother slain in Las Vegas a ‘hero’

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U.S. Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Charleston Hartfield of the 100th Quartermaster Company poses for a photo at Rainbow Falls near Hilo, Hawaii. Off-duty Las Vegas police officer and youth football coach, Hartfield, 34, was known as a selfless, respected leader who brought out the best in his players, said Stan King, whose son played football for Hartfield.
Sgt. Walter Lowell, U.S. Army National Guard via AP

Angela "Angie" Gomez graduated from Riverside Poly High School in 2015, where she was a cheerleader. School staff remembered her as a “fun-loving young lady with a great sense of humor.” Gomez also participated in the Riverside Children’s Theater and was involved in choir.
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Adrian Murfitt, 25, was a commercial fisherman from Anchorage, Alaska, described as a man with a big hearty laugh, a former competitive hockey player who still dabbled in the game.
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Bailey Schweitzer of Bakersfield, Calif., was a receptionist. “No one could possibly have a bad day when Bailey was around,” said a statement by Fred Brakeman, CEO of Infinity Communications and Consulting, Inc., where Schweitzer worked.
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As an engineer, Bill Wolfe Jr. spent several years working on major projects for a central Pennsylvania engineering firm. There, a colleague remembered him as being personable, easy to work with and a devoted Christian. Shippensburg Greyhound Wrestling team in southern Pennsylvania is raising money for his family.
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This is Denise Burditus of West Virginia. “It saddens me to say that I lost my wife of 32 years, a mother of two, soon to be grandmother of five this evening in the Las Vegas shooting,” Tony Burditus wrote. “Denise passed in my arms. I LOVE YOU BABE.”
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Heather Warino Alvarado ran an in-home day care center in Cedar City, Utah, and was a devoted wife and mother of three children who was always willing to help others, said longtime friend Megan Jackson Gadd.
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This is Kelsey Meadows, the daughter of Greg and Stacy Meadows. “Kelsey was smart, compassionate and kind. She had a sweet spirit and a love for children,” Taft Union High School principal, Mary Alice Finn, said in a statement.
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Quinton Robbins was the big brother who coached his little brother’s flag football team, the prom king who was nice to everyone regardless of their high school social standing, an outdoorsman who loved to fish and boat around the lake.
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Rachael Parker was a police records technician for the Manhattan Beach, Calif., Police Department. Parker was among four department employees who were attending the festival while off-duty
Manhattan Beach Calif. Police Dept. via AP

Sonny Melton was a registered nurse in Paris, Tenn. Heather Melton, Sonny's wife, said that her husband "saved my life and lost his." She says her husband was the most kind-hearted, loving man she ever met.
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This is Tom Day Jr. with his family at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. Day of Corona, Calif. He was described as a fun-loving guy, a great family man who loved to spend time with his family.
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Charleston Hartfield, an off-duty Las Vegas police officer and youth football coach, was among the 59 slain after a gunman opened fire Sunday from the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel onto a crowd of more than 22,000 below at a country music festival(Photo: Sgt. Walter Lowell, U.S. Army National Guard via AP)

For months, Terone Hartfield eagerly awaited the day he and his five siblings would meet for the first time.

The Pontiac man only learned about his brothers and sisters, who share the same father, in the last few years, but the entire group had never been together all at once. So after many calls and conferences on Skype, they finally had synchronized their schedules enough to meet up next month in Las Vegas, where the youngest of the clan, Charleston Hartfield, lived.

“That was our goal,” Terone Hartfield, 53, said. “We were so close to making that happen.”

In an instant this week, those dreams, and all of their newly reconnected lives, were upended.

Charleston Hartfield, an off-duty Las Vegas police officer and youth football coach, was among the 59 slain after a gunman opened fire Sunday from the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel onto a crowd of more than 22,000 below at a country music festival.

“This is the toughest thing I’ve ever had to deal with,” Terone Hartfield said Tuesday night. “I can only imagine, and I don’t want to imagine, what his wife and children are going through. This was senseless, could have been avoided. Still don’t know the motivation or reason for it.”

Those questions haunted Hartfield as soon as another sibling, Denita Oyeka, told him about the officer’s death early Monday.

Hartfield learned his brother had been off-duty and with his wife at the concert when shots rang out. The 34-year-old shielded her “then proceeded to go out to rescue other people when he was shot,” he said.

Even before learning about his brother’s involvement, Terone Hartfield had been bracing for the worst when watching the events unfold on TV before work.

The loss was especially acute since Terone Hartfield had only been contacting his brother in the last year and was amazed by the younger man’s background.

Besides spending more than a decade as a police officer, Charleston Hartfield — the father of two teenagers — had served in the Army and went to Afghanistan, his brother said.

Hartfield is also listed as the author of a book titled “Memoirs of Public Servant” about his time as a Las Vegas police officer.

“From what I knew from talking with him, I thought he was a phenomenal person,” he said. “He was a much bigger man than I ever thought. He was amazing.”

Charleston Hartfield was known as a selfless, respected leader who brought out the best in his players, said Stan King, whose son played football for Hartfield.

Troy Rhett, another friend of Hartfield’s through football, said he knew from social media that Hartfield was attending the Sunday concert. When he heard about the shooting, he texted him, hoping to learn Hartfield was safe. He never heard back, and Rhett said he learned through another friend Monday morning that Hartfield had died.

Hartfield, who also went by “Chuck” or “Charles” or even “Chucky Hart,” was a military veteran and leaves behind a son and a daughter, Rhett said.

Terone Hartfield said he plans to join his family in Las Vegas this week as they support their brother’s widow and children.

He has also set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for a legacy fund — a gesture intended to commemorate the military veteran’s life and service.

“My brother was a hero,” Terone Hartfield said. “He fought for his country. He supported his community and he died saving lives.”